As a non-US person moving to SF later this year, I don't have a US credit rating yet. How do I go about looking for places?
2) Get a secured credit card so you at least have a file when they run your credit check. I'm sure you can find guides on how best to do this as a foreign citizen. If you don't have family or close friends here you could be out of luck. But if you do, you could easily have the card shipped to them and allow them to use it for things occasionally to help you get a credit rating.
US Credit ratings (FICO scores) are heavily weighted on revolving (credit card) accounts, not so much installment accounts, so don't worry about those.
Doing these things will help you immeasurably. Pulling credit is as much about identity verification as it is credit risk.
If you can't, remember: There are a TON of people with bad credit everywhere. They're not homeless. You will just have to be tenacious about it.
When you are trying to rent an apartment, yes. If you are trying to buy a cell phone or get a Mastercard or buy a car or a house, it's just the opposite: there's nothing worse than no credit.
If you have no credit, you can get a secured credit card and have a 650-700 fico in a few months. You'll have a thin file so don't expect a mortgage or anything, but in a year or two even that will be no problem.
Bad credit? You can do a lot to clean it up before the 7 years are up, but ive seen this in my own family and it's really a waiting game for bad entries to age off your report.
And anecdotally, which would you prefer to lend to: somebody with no track record, knowing the average American has a 650+ credit score, or somebody who has bad credit and a proven history of not repaying obligations.
It is subjective though, and ymmv.
So there's your answer: you'd rather lend money to the known deadbeat than someone with no credit history.
You can fix that very easily. You don't have to have a line of credit to get into their database. All you have to do is apply for one. That inquiry will be reported, you will have a credit file, and from then-on to whomever is pulling your credit it won't look as though you just made-up a 9 digit number in place of a real social security number.
The best way to do this will be to apply for credit some place in-person, like a bank.
So I'll reiterate: Having no credit is a much better position than having bad credit.
Having no identity? That is a problem I'm sure.
If you have a hard time getting a place, you should also strongly consider places outside of SF.
-Capital One has a 'newcommer' card that gives a $500 limit with any near blank new SSN online, instantly.
-Bank of america has one for canadians, most retail bankers don't know about it. The one by stanford mall did.